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The
Olive Branch Strategy

for
Breaking the Cycle of Violence

We have often said, “Because the Palestinian people
possess the force of truth and the international legitimacy they are stronger
with the stones than with arms and much stronger with olive branches than with
stones.” But, no one heard this appeal and the cycle of violence continued to
follow the reactions principle, “for every action there is an opposite
reaction with double its force.” Here we conclude, “Violence breeds violence
and blood calls for blood.” Therefore, we have no alternative but to break the
cycle of spiralling violence and adopt the historical courage, give up arms and
stones and raise the olive branch once again, that same branch that President
Yasser Arafat raised in his right hand when he delivered his famous speech at
the United Nations in 1974, as he said “I am coming with an olive branch in
one hand and a gun in the other, so do not let the olive branch fall from my
hand.”

Since then, we have employed all methods and yet we are at the same
starting point. Therefore, we should follow a different path in harmony with the
new facts in the international arena. I summarize this route of Olive Branch
Strategy and I have justifications for it:

I
do not confuse between resistance and violence: resistance is a legitimate
right for every nation that falls under oppression and occupation, whereas
violence and terrorism are an aggression against the freedom of others,
their properties, liberty and territory, particularly those innocent.

There
are many legitimate means of resistance, military, peaceful, political and
informational. We have tried them all and succeeded in bringing our case to
prominence at the highest world level.

In
view of recent world developments, the wave of terrorism and the war against
terrorism, it has become difficult to distinguish between the permissible
and the forbidden because of the sensitivity of the issue. The cease-fire
decision, even if it were one sided, was wise. To turn towards political
action is now necessary for reaping the fruits of the former phase of the
struggle.

This
strategic choice does not indicate weakness or incapacity but political
wisdom that require public support, in adherence to the cease-fire. To
preclude it from turning into just a negative matter, it needs public action
at the base level to carry on with a peaceful “Intifada” until the
anticipated goals of victory, independence and liberty are realised.

What
I call as Olive Branch Strategy is that which moves the Palestinian, Arab,
Moslem and world public towards peace through purely non-violent creative initiatives that call for an end
to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and also, to gain a
global dimension, should call for an end to all forms of violence and terror
including the war in Afghanistan.

Such
means would bring local and international support to the Palestinian people
and make them the pioneers of a world peace movement that would help put an
end to a confusion
that could lead to a global catastrophe.

Also
encouraging for the pursuit of this method of action are the opportunities
that loomed in the horizon as George Bush, the son, Tony Blair and other
world leaders indicated their conviction for the need to establish a
Palestinian State capable of living side by side with Israel. We should not
allow this opportunity to slip by.

The
current impasse resulting from the recent turmoil created by Minister
Rehabam Zeevi’s assassination should be overcome and not to allow its
exploitation for the increase of violence. This could be achieved by
forwarding a peace initiative with a new and courageous logic that puts the
ball in the Israeli court, on the one hand, and serves the interest of both
parties, on the other.

This
initiative is based on challenging the Israelis by publicly repudiating all
forms of violence and the undertaking of Palestinian people in all their
factions to comply under all circumstances. Israel will then be called upon
to bring about a quick, comprehensive and just peace based on the principle
of “land for security and peace” in conformity with the decisions of the
international legitimacy.

The
United Nations and the states of the world would impose a binding solution
on both parties. They will invite Mr. Yasser Arafat and Mr. Ariel Sharon to
sign the agreement, draw up a time schedule and list practical steps for its
immediate implementation. A simultaneous declaration to the end of the
conflict will be made once for all.

After having explained the need to follow the Olive Branch strategy, I
would like to provide some practical points so that this will not only remain as
imaginative.

Adopt
a non-violent path to resistance as a final and irrevocable means, on the
level of both the leadership and the base, through a public declaration of
it.

Initiate
a quick education for non-violent struggle methods in schools, universities
and national institutions to result in an organized and effective action.

Draw
a schedule of daily non-violent initiatives and actions within the country
and abroad. These would have symbolic and effective dimensions that would
portray a new civilized image to the world through the media.

For example, I would like to bring up a practical suggestion drawn from a
sentence I have read recently from Cardinal Martini in which he said:
“Noah’s pigeon is still perched on our branch of olives.” I add the
following sentence to it: “Noah’s pigeon returned with an olive branch to
announce the end of the deluge.” With this, why shouldn’t the non-violence
campaign start with 5 million olive branches, where 5 million Palestinians in
the country and the Diaspora carry them and offer them to 5 million Israelis as
a signal for a collective genuine desire for peace?! This idea will be applied
through a well prepared non-violent invasion of all the Israeli territories
where every Palestinian will give an olive branch to an Israeli: a Palestinian
child to an Israeli child, an old Palestinian man to an old Israeli man, a
Palestinian fighter to an Israeli soldier and a Palestinian Christian priest and
a Moslem Sheikh to a Rabbi. Let this symbolic and expressive movement be a gift
of peace and a challenge to the world and I am certain that it would bring
better and more abundant fruit than all the stones and bullets and missiles that
reaped the souls and sowed nothing but devastation.

This will be the starting point to numerous other creative initiatives
that we could come up with in our fertile Palestinian imagination. We have used
our ingenuity in the struggle, so let’s use it in the art of making peace.
Then, and only then,
would the spectre of war disappear and the pigeon of peace return to us with a
green olive branch in her beak and a rainbow appear in the skies of our country
providing us with an assurance that there will be no more deluge.